How many SIMs are you currently holding? Have you thrown away any SIMs in your lifetime? How many SIMs have you lost? Probably more than you should have ever had, and you most likely don’t care. Have you ever had to have to pay for your mobile balance?
You might have thought about a life where you could use your phone, without worrying about running out of SIM balance. You may have thought about it, but never considered it again. Now SIM-less cloud phones have made it a lot easier.
What are SIM-less Cloud Phones?
You may already know what a SIM card is. So, let’s talk about what SIM-less cloud phones are. Not having to worry about SIM sounds wonderful. Instead of using a physical SIM card, Cloud Phone uses the internet connection for different communication media such as voice calls, messages, video calls and so on.
SIM-less cloud phones assign you a unique virtual phone number instead of physical SIM cards. You are required to buy subscription packages that can be for either personal or business use.
Note: You might have been partially using Cloud phone services without even you realizing it. Think about it for a moment! You might have probably used apps such as messenger, Skype and such.
They are not necessarily Cloud Phones, but those are some easily understandable examples of phones that use cloud services.
But what really is cloud technology?
To put it simply, cloud technology means accessing Information Technology resources over internet instead of having to build, manage and maintain the hardware and servers on your own. It is faster and more efficient.
How does SIM-less Cloud Phone work?
In short SIM-less cloud phones mean phone that do not use any SIM. Cloud Phones use a different technology called VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology that allows you to make calls using broadband internet connection.
It converts your voice into digital signals, breaks it down into small encrypted digital packets and sends it to the receiver through the internet connection. It works for not only mobile phones but for desktops as well.
Also, unlocked, and SIM free phones are separate things. SIM free does not contain a SIM, and it does not lock the phone to a particular network. Unlocked phones are initially locked to a network and has certain barrier. But you can change into any other network without restrictions.
Advantages of SIM-less Cloud Phones
You might have learnt enough about what SIM-less Cloud Phones are. Now let’s move to how they are beneficial. They are the fresh face of communication. You now have video calls as well, instead of just voice calls. There are more advantages and we listed some of them below.
1. Saves Money
In SIM-based phone, you pay money to buy the physical SIM and telephony handset. You also have to purchase the subscription to use the SIM services once it runs out of SIM credit.
But cloud phones use internet technology. Everyone has their own private internet connection so you don’t have to pay to buy extra physical SIM and its subscription fee.
Only purchasing the internet connection is enough. This decreases the expense to buy extra hardware for SIM based phones.
2. Flexible
As it does not lock you to one network provider, you can upgrade whenever you want. It is also perfect for travelling people. You do not need to buy SIMs for every country you visit.
Setting it up once is sufficient for the rest of your use. You can use your device as long as you have an internet connection.
3. Easy switch
Cloud-based phones provide you a virtual number. You can switch to any service provider and also keep your existing number. Meaning you don’t have to notify everyone that you have changed your number.
This is a major quality of life improvement than SIM phones where you have to notify your people once you change your SIM.
4. No more locked phone problem
A locked phone refers to a phone that will only work when a particular network’s SIM card is inserted in the SIM card slot. While unlocking the locked phones is possible, it is morally as well as legally incorrect.
But as you can easily change your cloud service provider easily, there are no questions of morality or its legality.
5. Better call quality
If you have a strong internet connection, then we can ensure strong call quality. There are many areas where you get poor call quality on SIM phones because of poor tower signal strength.
As everyone has a private internet connection, your connection can provide you seamless call quality without lag and decrease in call quality.
6. Can be Re-sold
You have to provide your own personal information to buy a contract of a SIM card. Reselling SIM card is a poor option as another person can misuse the SIM card and they can put the blame to the original owner.
Cloud phones are not a problem. As you can reset your phone and remove all your previous information. The buyer will not have your private information and won’t be able to misuse your phone.
7. Pay as You Go
In case of locked phones, you are bound with one contract. But, on cloud phones you can “Pay as You Go”, so signing up for one contract is unnecessary. You can also decide to change your service provider whenever you want.
8. Less physical phone space
Installation of physical SIM card uses space on phones. They might seem small but, the mobile manufacturers can use even that small space to increase size of a battery or add a new hardware providing an extra feature.
Disadvantages of SIM-less Cloud Phones
SIM-less phones are the better choice but it comes with some of its own problems. There are some things that you have to consider. Here are some of those disadvantages:
1. Active internet connection required
This is the major problem of cloud phones. You are always required to have an active internet connection. If your connection goes down or you have a poor connection, then you won’t be able to carry out your conversation effectively.
Cloud phones expect you to have a band-width of 100Kbps. Make sure that you have a stable internet connection to experience seamless conversation.
2. Initial Cost
This is more of a problem for people using old mobile devices. If your device cannot connect to a wireless connection (Wi-Fi), then you are required to buy a more advanced smartphone. The initial cost of buying the phone can be high depending on the quality of device you choose to buy.
SIM-less phones for business and personal communication
There are many businesses cooperation that are adapting to cloud phones. People deemed cloud phones as quite the fundamental change.
Most of the time, a business cooperation is a place with strong internet connectivity. So, the problem of requiring a strong connectivity is much less resolved.
In business cooperation, only voice calls are not enough for proper communication. The features of video calling, media sharing is extremely helpful. The most notable feature of cloud technology is the real-time synchronization.
As this feature already syncs your information with mobile and desktop or any of your connected devices, you are just having a better and more efficient time.
Not just business communication, but personal communication is also a better experience with cloud phones. It is the new trend and most people do like keeping up with the trend.
The pros of business communication also apply for personal use as long as you have a better internet connection.
What are some cloud phones that you can use?
It is necessary to choose your service provider properly. Think whether it is for personal or business communication. Each cloud service provider can provide unique features.
Consider the prices, ease of setup, the user reviews, the security it provides, customer care services, service quality and select what’s best for not only you but for your team as well.
Some cloud service providers are:
- KrispCall
- Dailpad
- GoToConnect
- Aircall
- 8×8
Conclusion: Is SIM-less cloud phones the future of mobile telephony?
Use of internet connection is increasing day by day. Without 1 hour of the internet can cause massive problems in business communication.
The world heavily relies on the internet and the use of VoIP calling is also high. People also prefer to use VoIP calling over SIM services for calling.
I repeat the point of not having to buy country-based SIM when travelling. Cloud phone services provide international phone numbers for different countries.
This not just helps in personal travelling use but for business communication as they can connect with business of any country, thus widening their range.
Right now, Cloud phones may not have properly developed, but even the partially developed features have already been more beneficial than SIM services.
People are switching to cloud phones as they are more efficient, reliable and also go along with the trend of this ever-changing society.
We can expect many future updates and better cloud phones up in the future. So, yes! SIM-less cloud phones are the future of mobile telephony. It is better now and will only continue to grow even better.